Earnest Partners LLC Increases Stake in SLB Limited $SLB

Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 486.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 929,227 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 770,786 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $31,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC increased its position in SLB by 4.6% during the third quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 2,406,054 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $82,696,000 after purchasing an additional 106,800 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLB in the 3rd quarter valued at $657,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of SLB by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,068,541 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $105,466,000 after buying an additional 322,252 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. acquired a new stake in shares of SLB during the 3rd quarter worth $404,000. Finally, Chiron Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Chiron Capital Management LLC now owns 43,385 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,491,000 after buying an additional 1,750 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $3,032,544.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 155,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,730,735.60. This represents a 28.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $659,419.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 22,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,113,627.90. This trade represents a 37.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE SLB opened at $44.72 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $48.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. SLB Limited has a 12-month low of $31.11 and a 12-month high of $52.45. The company has a market cap of $67.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.68.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on SLB from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Argus raised shares of SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.16.

SLB Profile

SLB (NYSE: SLB), historically known as Schlumberger, is a leading global provider of technology, integrated project management and information solutions for the energy industry. Founded by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in 1926, the company develops and supplies products and services used across the exploration, drilling, completion and production phases of oil and gas development. Its offerings are intended to help operators characterize reservoirs, drill and complete wells, optimize production and manage field operations throughout the asset lifecycle.

SLB’s product and service portfolio spans reservoir characterization and well testing, wireline and logging services, directional drilling and drilling tools, well construction and completion technologies, production systems, and subsea equipment.